Don’t be complacent on nutrition scheme for TB patients, MPs tell Union Health Ministry

Lawmakers have cautioned the Union Health Ministry about “complacency” in running a flagship campaign, asking non-governmental organisations to provide critical nutrition to TB patients, noting that such an approach “can not be the mainstay to fight against TB.”

The MPs gave the warning while reviewing the Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan – a central scheme that encourages people, NGOs and corporate bodies to become donors and adopt TB patients to ensure they receive adequate nutrition. Many donors provide monthly food baskets to patients on TB treatment.

More than 79,000 such donors are registered with the government catering to nine lakh TB patients who received 5.47 lakh food packets as on April 27. The ministry last week once again made an appeal hoping to get more donors, known as Nikshay Mitra.

“The Committee is of the opinion that to eradicate TB by 2025, the Nikshay adoption model cannot be considered as the mainstay to fight against TB,” the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Welfare said in its report, despite agreeing that the scheme had indeed demonstrated the power of “collective action.”

“The Committee expresses its concerns over a sense of complacency within the ministry and the government organisation responsible for implementing the TB elimination programme due to shift in their responsibility to non-governmental organisations which eventually may impede the overall progress,” the MPs say in their report, tabled earlier this week.

They suggested a robust selection process for a person or organisation to come onboard and having an effective monitoring mechanism to ensure diligent fulfilment of the donors’ responsibilities.

The House panel report comes a month after Indian researchers in a major findings showed nutritional support in patients could reduce TB mortality by 35 per cent.

The food supplement also leads to weight gain of 5 per cent over baseline weight in patients. The weight gain of at least 5 per cent over baseline weight in two months was associated with more than 60 per cent reduced risk of TB death.

Also 75 per cent of patients were able to work at the end of treatment. compared to 3 per cent at diagnosis, according to the study published in the Lancet.

In addition the lawmakers asked the Union health ministry to introduce X-ray machines in all public health facilities to prevent missed diagnosis in TB patients who received only clinical examinations.

With X-rays being able to pick up 95 per cent of TB cases as against just 62 per cent in clinical assessment as per the National TB Prevalence Survey of 2021, the Parliamentarians alerted the ministry that relying on clinical assessment based symptoms alone would lead to 33 per cent missed cases.

Among those diagnosed during the survey, more than 50 per cent did not have typical signs or symptoms suggestive of TB but had an abnormality in the chest X-ray, which led to their TB diagnosis.

“The Committee would like to suggest that the government ensure that X- ray facilities are available at all public healthcare facilities,” they said in the report.

New Delhi has set a target of eradicating TB by 2025 – five years ahead of the WHO target – and providing nutrition to TB patients is one of the key components to reach the milestone.